I have just spent the last hour in a time warp. Destination: Manila circa 1995.
And it was good.
Allow me to give you a mini visual tour.
Jeepneys! The easiest, cheapest, most culture-full kind of transport in Philippines.
I found it funny and perhaps a little strange that the pictures that took me back the most were of the roads and traffic. I guess I spent a lot of time driving around (as did everyone)!
Typhoon season was always pretty exciting. My family will laugh at how much I miss all the rain and wind because I spent most of the worst typhoons thinking that our roof was going to blow off and we were all going to die. Not at all dramatic of me!
Looking through familiar sights of Manila have made me realise how much my need to work for a charity has been shaped by the 2 short years in Manila. The hankerings to work in International Development and Charitiy stretched in my soul the more I looked through the impoverished scenes.
People are in desperate need.
Looking at this picture, I can smell the dense twilight air. I can taste the thick humid smog. I am there:
Smog and pollutions really make for beautiful sunsets over Manila's skyline. Apparently this was taken nearby where my school was (Valley Golf).
It's so easy to forget about this world that is so far out of reach from where I am right now. Trawling through people's perspectives of one of my homelands has made me sure of one thing:
I still love it. I still need to have Manila be part of me. It may not be the idyllic beaches and bamboo huts that people associate with The Philippines (don't get me wrong, I love that aspect too) but I need the hectic, chaotic sights of Manila. The dis-organised, full of hope and life city that is so much a part of my heart.
Memories courtesy of Jim Rohrer, Paolopicones, Parc Cruz,Canlasa, Natrine
5 comments:
Immense poverty! I do so hope you can begin doing what you love one day soon. Your heart is definitely in the right place!
Rach, you brought me back to manila. We will have to go back sometime, huh. The pictures were amazing.
Those memories are a bit further pushed back into my head than others - it's good to have them called forward every now and then. Some are pleasant, like the warm, heavy rain beating down on the roof.
I remember that dense smog, diesel-fumy, musty, mouldy smell. What a delight. Hahaha. I don't think I remember that dirty chaos quite as fondly as you do. =)
I felt like I got to visit right with you, it sounds like such a neat place.
I have never been but had many friends who went to ISM!
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